Safety razor and blade magazine



Aug. 11, 1936. N. TEST! SAFETY RAZOR AND BLAbE MAGAZINE Filed Oct. 10; 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 INVENTOR MhkaZMYi Aug. 11, 1936. N. TESTi I SAFETY RAZOR AND BLADE MAGAZINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 10, 1933 INVENTOR Mahala J Tait:

ORNEY Patented Aug. 11, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE.

2,050,395 I SAFETY RAZOR AND BLADE MAGAZINE Application October 10,

8 Claims.

This invention relates to safety razors and blade magazines arranged to co-operate in such manner that sharpened blades may be conveniently supplied to the razor directly from the magazine by presenting the guard member of the razor thereto and without manipulation of the blade itself by the user. In one aspect the invention consists in a further development of the invention disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,843,994. In another aspect it comprises improvements of general utility in connection with safety razors and blade magazines. v

An important feature of. the invention consists in a novel safety razor having a pick-up head designed positively to engage a blade in the magazine, when therazor or a part thereof is presented thereto, and remove the blade from the magazine already positioned in shaving relation upon the guard. The positive engagement of the blade to be removed from the magazine by the pick-up head is desirable from the standpoint of reliability of operation, uniformity of results and range .of usefulness. The pick-up head herein shown has transversely disposed arms which may be presented in position to pass through-the aperture' ofxa slotted blade and then turned transversely into locking engagement therewith, whereby the blade maybe positively withdrawn fromthe magazine without danger of dropping or misplace ment and wherein, moreover, variations in outline or internal aperture of the blade in no way interfere with the successful and re-.

liable operation of the head.

Another feature of the invention consists in a cap having a projecting divided web serving the purposes of locating a blade positively with respect to the cap, locating the cap with respect to the guard and furnishing a threaded nut for co-operation with a corresponding bolt for drawing the cap and guard into blade-clamping relation. I

My invention includes also a guard having various novel features adapting it for use in operation with the cap already described, such as a longitudinal slot for receiving the divided web of the cap and positioning its threaded edges for co-operation as a-clamping nut with the bolt of the handle.

My invention also includes within its scope a blade magazine of novel construction, herein shown as provided with co-operating. pairs of retaining lips arranged to overlie the ends of blades stacked alternately in angularly displaced position and to retain the blades therein until 1933, Serial No. 692,985

the uppermost blade is shortenedby being longitudinally bowed by separating movement of the razor or a part thereof with respect to the maga- Z 116. I

These and other features ofthe invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof,selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the blade magazine, showing a stack of blades in position therein;

I Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the cap and guard members of. the razor with a portion of the razor handle;

Fig. 3 is a view of the razor in longitudinal section, partly in elevation, showing the cap and guard in separated relation;

Fig.4 is a view in cross-section of the guard and a portion of the handle of the razor, showing a blade in position'upon the guard; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the guard with a blade in position thereon;

Fig. 6 is a. similar view showing the guard in transverse position to a blade;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blade magazine on an enlarged scale, showing the blade-retaining head in position of presentation;

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing the parts in cross-section;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the blade magazine on the same enlarged scale, showing the blade-retaininghead in pick-up position;

Fig. 10 is a similar view showing the parts in cross-section;

Fig. 11 is a view in cross-section of the cap and guard members of the razor with a blade clamped in shaving position between them; and

' Fig. 12 is a plan view of a modified form of blade magazine.

The blade magazine [0 shown in Figs. 1,7,and 9 is in the form of a shallow cylinder having a circular bottom andmay conveniently be shaped from an integral sheet metal blank. It is provided inside at diametricallyoppositepoints 90 apart with end rests l I, best shown in Figs- 8 and 10, designed to support a stack of blades within the magazine by underlying the ends thereof at a .level substantially above the bottom of the magazine, so that the blades may be bowed downwardly under pressure for a purpose which will be presently explained. Spaced vertical guide ribs l2 are provided at each side of the end rests II for the purpose of maintaining the blades in vertical alignment and guiding them when removed up past the upper edge of the wall of the receptacle. Above each end rest is an inwardly projecting and overhanging lip or flange |3 herein shown as formed integrally with the wall of the magazine. A telescopic cover may be provided if desired but this is not shown in the drawings since it is not an essential part of the invention.

The magazine l0 may be designed to accommodate blades of any desired'type but as herein shown it is specially adapted for the internally apertured double-edged blade I5 of a well-known commercial type. These blades are provided with an elongated slot |6 having spaced transverse enlargements to fit upon the blade-locating studs of the safety razor in which they are to be used, a central recess and corner recesses which define elongated unsharpened end portions I1. The guides l2 are spaced to receive the end portions H of the blades, to hold the blades in vertical registration and to guide them as they are being removed from the magazine.

One type of safety razor which may be satisfactorily used in connection with the magazine above described is illustrated in Figs. '2 to 6 of the drawings. The cap 20 has an elongated, transversely concave blade-shaping face and this is provided with a central socket 2| elongated transversely in the cap. Spaced posts 22 project from the concave face of the cap and between these posts is provided a divided web or a spaced pair of plates 23 which substantially register at their inner edges with the socket 2| and are provided in their opposed edges with a portion of a thread, thus constituting in eifect a nut which co-operates with a bolt mounted in the handle of the razor, as will be presently explained.

The guard 25 corresponds in its general shape to the cap 20 although it is slightly wider and is provided at its longitudinal edges with guard teeth 26. It is also provided with a central longitudinal slot 21 terminating at either end in a circular enlargement 28 shaped and located to receive the posts 22 of the cap while the slot 21 re-: ceives the divided web 23.

The tubular head 29 of the handle is formed integral with the guard 25 or otherwise rigidly secured thereto. The end of the tubular head 29 adjacent to the guard is provided with a slot 3| which extends through both sides of the head and is of the same width and in registration with the slot 21 of the guard. The slot 21 of the guard and the slot 3| of the head are of such width and so located as freely to receive the divided web 23 of the cap when the cap and guard are assembled and the inner edges of the divided web 23 are so spaced as completely to fill the slot in the head 29 and to form therewith a threaded nut.

Secured in the end of the handle head 29 and projecting through the guard is the pick-up or blade-engaging head 30 having a central stem with a rounded upper end and short transverse arms which extend outwardly and transversely and are spaced sufliciently from the convex blade-engaging face of the guard to permit a blade to be inserted between the two. The pick-up head 30 as will be understood is rigidly secured in place and its transverse arms taper outwardly substantially to a point. The diameter of the stem of the head 30 corresponds substantially to the diameter of the central hole or recess in the blade designed for use with the razor, the intention being that when the razor is presented in transverse position to a blade in the magazine, as suggested in Figs. 6 and 7. the head 30 may be passed freely through the blade and then turned with the razor into the transverse pick-up position, shown in Figs. 4 and 9. In this position the blade is positively engaged between the blade-engaging face of the guard 25 and the transverse arms of the pick-up head 30. At its lower end the handle head 29 is shouldered to receive the tubular barrel 32 of the handle. This, as shown in Fig. 3, is flanged at its outer or lower end to engage and retain within the handle an elongated bolt 33 threaded at its inner end for co-operation-with the thread of the divided web 23 of the cap and provided at its outer ends with a knurled head 34 which may be conveniently turned by the user. 7

In Fig. 12 of the drawings is shown a slightly modified form of blade magazine 40 which, instead of being circularly cylindrical, has two straight parallel sides. This magazine is designed to receive a stack of blades |5 arranged alternately in positions of about 30 displacement instead of 90 displacement as shown in Figs. 1, 7 and 9. The magazine 40 is provided with parallel guide ribs 42 for positioning and guiding the blades in the stack and with inwardly projecting overhanging lips 43 for retaining the blades in position.

Assuming that the user desires to take a blade from either of the magazines above described, he has only to present the guard member 25 of the razor to the uppermost blade in the stack in position transverse to the blade so that the pickup head 30 may pass through the blade slot. The presentation position of the guard is illustrated in Figs. 6, '7 and 8 of the drawings. Presented in this transverse position the pick-up head 30 passes freely through the slot of the uppermost blade l5 of the stack but, since the second blade in the stack is disposed in a different angular position, the pick-up head will not pass through it but, as the guard is pressed downwardly, it downwardly flexes the second blade in the stack and all those below it, thus creating a space beneath the uppermost blade, as clearly shown in Fig. 8. When this position has been reached the user may twist the guard through 90, bringing the guard into parallel relation with the uppermost blade, as shown in Figs. 5 and 10 and correspondingly locating the soon as the blade |5 has disengaged itself from the retaining lips I 3, it is free to assume a fiat position in contact with the face of the guard 25 as indicated by dot and dash lines in Fig. 10. At the same time the blades remaining in the stack in the magazine are relieved from pressure and are free to reassume a fiat horizontal position in the magazine.

It will thus be seen that the user has removed from the magazine the uppermost blade of the stack without in any way touching it with his fingers. The blade while held in this position may be presented to the cap as indicated in Fig. 3. In this assembling operation the divided eb 23 passes freely through the slot l6 of the blade and the slot 21 of the guard and its opposed edges fill the slot 3| in the handle head 29. The posts 22 meanwhile pass through the enlargements of the blade slot and into the enlargements 28 of the guard. In this operation the blade is accurately and positively located in position between the cap and guard by the posts 22 and the web 23. The pick-up head 30 is housed in the central socket 2| of the cap. By now turning the bolt 33 by means of the head 34 the operator may engage the bolt with the nut of the cap and draw the cap and guard members into clamping relation wherein the blade I is rigidly supported in position of pronounced transverse curvature between the two in readi ness for shaving.

When it is desired to release the blade the bolt 33 may be turned reversely until the threaded web 23 is disengaged whereupon the cap may be removed from the guard and the used blade disengaged from the pick-up head by being turned angularly 90 back to the position shown in Fig. 6.

It will be noted that the guide ribs l2 serve to hold the blades against angular displacement at all times. This is particularly important after the pick-up head has been passed through the slot of the uppermost blade and the razor is being turned to bring the head into its transverse engaging position.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is,-

1. In a safety razor, a tubular handle having an elongated guard secured thereto, said guard being provided with a longitudinal slot in alignment with the handle and the handle being also slotted in registration with the slot of the guard, and a blade-retaining head inserted in the registering slots of the guard and handle and having rigid arms projecting transversely above the face of the guard. 2. A safety razor comprising cap and guard members having opposed blade-shaping faces, means for drawing said members together, and a blade-retaining device projecting from the face of one member, said device having rigid arms arranged to be housed in the other member, and being constructed and arranged to pass freely through the aperture of a slotted blade and hold it positively in contact with one of the bladeengaging faces when the end portions of the blade are bowed away from said face.

3.. In combination, a magazine having retaining clips disposed to engage the ends of slotted blades disposed in a stack in alternate angular relation, and a safety razor having a bladeclamping member with a head shaped to enter the slot of the uppermost blade in the stack and positively engage the blade, whereby it may be through an elongated aperture in a blade and to bowed upwardly and disengaged from its retaining clips.

4. In combination, a magazine having supports arrangedoppositely in pairs for supporting angularly disposed slotted blades in a stack, guides 5 and retaining clips for the blade ends, and a safety razorhaving a guard provided with cross arms spaced from its blade-engaging face and adapted positively to engage the uppermost blade after it has been passed through its slot and then twisted angularly, being thus adapted forcibly to disengage the blade from said retaining clips.

5. In a safety razor, a handle having a longitudinally slotted guard attached thereto, bladeengaging arms secured to said guard,,extending transversely thereon and diverging from the face of the guard, and adapted to pass freely through ablade aperture and to be turned with the guard into blade-retaining position, a cap having spaced 20 threaded members arranged to project through the slot of the guard on opposite sides of said blade-engaging arms, and. connecting means within the handle for engaging the threaded members. 25

6. In a safety razor, a cap having a concave blade-engaging face and a centrally disposed transversely elongated socket sunk below its blade-engaging face and upstanding plates on either side of the socket provided ,with opposed 80 threaded edges, in combination with a guard having transversely disposed arms shaped to be received within said socket.

7. In a safety razor, a guard having an elongated blade-supporting face provided with a longitudinal slot therein, and a head having rigid arms extending transversely of said slot and above the blade-supporting face of the guard, said head and arms being shaped to pass freely be then turned with the guard relatively to the blade into positive blade-engaging position, the longitudinal slot in the guard then registering with the elongated aperture of the blade.

8. A safety razor having a guard with a longitudinal slot therein and rigid cross-arms extending transversely of the slot, a blade slotted to receive said cross arms and to be held in position upon the guard when the latter is turned together with said cross arms relatively to the blade, a cap having engaging projections spaced to enter the slot in the guard on both sides of the cross arms, and means for interlocking with said projections to clamp the cap in shaving positio upon the guard.

NICHOLAS -TES'I'I. 

